Category Archives: Business & Economy

Fresh water fish seed farm opened at Neyyar

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Thiruvananthapuram:

The state will soon turn self-sufficient in freshwater fish seed production, said fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma. She was speaking after inaugurating the freshwater fish seed farm and fish hatchery training centre near Neyyar dam on Friday.

“Having freshwater lakes in the state, Kerala has immense potential in freshwater fish farming,” minister opined. “The challenge is to produce quality juvenile fish. Against the demand for 12 crore juvenile fish, the state could produce only 2 crore,” the minister said.

The freshwater fish hatchery was constructed spending Rs 3.44 crore. Six concrete feeding tanks having 24.6m length and 9.6m width, a pool platform having 12m width and 7m length and an FRP tank platform which is 9m long and 8m wide are arranged at the hatchery, besides a 158 square metre hatchery office building.

A fisheries training centre of 1,008 square metres has been constructed using Rs 3.2 crore. This two-storey building can accommodate 32 persons and the training hall has the capacity to house 75 persons.

The fisheries minister said that administrative sanction for Rs 7.46 lakh has been given for the third phase of development of the Farm.

MLA C K Hareendran presided over the function which was attended by Perumkadavila block panchayat president Sujathakumar, Kallikkad

Grama panchayat vice-president Shyamlal, district panchayat member Ansajitha Russal, block panchayat member M K Kumar, grama panchayat member R Latha of and assistant director of fisheries department Sheeja attended the event.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News / Thiruvananthapuram – June 10th, 2018

IESA impressed by Maker Village

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

The Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) has offered to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs operating out of Kalamassery-based Maker Village while evincing interest in having a tie-up with the facility.

The organisation has also volunteered to extend help in promoting the products of companies being incubated out of the facility.

IESA proposes to set up a branch office in the State to facilitate these assistances and most probably the organisation would opt for Kochi, a release issued here quoted Anilkumar Muniswami, Chairman, Executive Council, IESA, as saying. He hinted at such a prospect after visiting Maker Village at Kinfra Park, Kalamassery, along with other committee members on Wednesday.

“The biggest value we can bring to Maker Village is to take product of the companies from incubation stage to commercialisation. We want to have a tie-up with Maker Village and see that all these start-up kind of companies will mature and their products are identified by the industry leaders, so that they get the right kind of funding for commercial purpose,” he said.

Mr. Muniswami hailed the functioning of Maker Village, which he said, is doing a tremendous job in association with the State government by offering facilities at par with the incubation labs in big ticket players like Japan, Taiwan and Sweden.

Madhav Nambiar, Chairman, Maker Village, said the visit of the Executive Committee members would help understand what IESA can do and how the Maker Village incubatees can closely work with the Bengaluru hardware ecosystem to move to the next level.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – June 06th, 2018

Energy Management Centre, Kerala, a green, energetic building

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Energy Management Centre, Kerala | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

The main campus of Energy Management Centre, Kerala is a global star in the campaign for energy efficiency

After riding for half an hour in the blazing sun, entering the new building of Energy Management Centre, Kerala(EMC), near Chavadimukku, is, literally, a cool experience. The 43,000 square foot office building inside Sree Krishna Nagar was one of the six in the world and the only project listed from India in UN’s ‘Global Status Report 2017: Towards a zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings and construction sector’ released in May 2017.

For a long time EMC, an autonomous institution under the Government of Kerala, was operating out of a rented building near Thycaud. “It was in 2006, when I got to visit the Confederation of Indian Industry – Sohrabji Godrej Green Businesss Centre, that I set my mind on building something similar for EMC in Thiruvananthapuram. Although a plan was on paper by 2011, it took another five years for getting the required funds, administrative sanction and construction,” says K.M. Dhareshan Unnithan, director of EMC-Kerala. The building was inaugurated in 22 February, 2016.

Built on a hillside, the building is designed to be in tune with the terrain to avoid landscaping and tampering with the natural slope of the land. Offices, auditoriums and laboratories are all set around a central green courtyard, which slants from one end to the other. “This helps in draining of rain water from the top to the other end where they are diverted to two ponds that we have in this compound,” says Dinesh Kumar A.N., an energy technologist working at EMC, while showing me around the office.

Also, the building is oriented in such a way as to get maximum sunlight on the roof, where the solar panels are located, while the spaces inside it are designed for maximum availability of natural light. On a bright day, most of the spaces inside the building is lit completely by natural light, while artificial lights inside the building are all LED lamps and that is another way of saving energy. “At the same time most of the windows face north and south directions, which means they never face direct sunlight and that brings down the heat entering the buildings in a huge manner. It has contributed a lot to the energy efficiency of the building as we didn’t have to spend a lot on cooling,” Dhareshan adds. The cross ventilation and turbo vents too help in avoiding things from getting heated up inside the EMC office while solar reflectance index coating and high-albedo painting aids in insulation.

The entire campus is powered by 30 kilowatt grid-connected solar capacity. “We are only using a portion of what we are producing and the rest is being diverted to the grid and that makes us an energy positive structure,” says Dhareshan. All this has made the EMC building four times more energy-efficient than the highly energy efficient five-star rated buildings.

Green buildings, EMC scientists say, are the way to future. Although it might cost the common man a bit more than constructing a regular house, going for the green option would mean saving money in a big manner in future. Dhareshan adds, “There are already powerful wall-mounted batteries in the market that can be charged using solar panels. They don’t come cheap, but anything extra you spend on setting such a system would be retrieved within a time period while saving you a lot of money which would otherwise be used for paying energy bills.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Environment / by Aswin V.N. / Thiruvananthapuram – June 01st, 2018

Thottara Puncha rice brand to hit market by June

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

The Thottara Puncha before harvest. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Government’s farming success story sees revival of 652 acres of paddy land

A rice bowl that had been lying almost fallow for over a decade has now been revived fully to produce some 1,500 metric tonnes of paddy in a joint effort by the Ernakulam district administration, Agriculture Department, paddy field collectives, and local bodies.

The rejuvenated Thottara Puncha, where 652 acres of paddy land were brought under cultivation last year, will now be a brand, with the rice produced here hitting the market in that name in the first week of June. The effort to breathe life back into the Puncha, trapped amid some nine hills, was spearheaded by District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla.

The plan is to market some 20 tonnes of rice initially, followed by another batch of 20 tonnes. Keecheri Service Cooperative Bank has completed collection of paddy, threshing, packing, and branding, said a release issued here.

Mr. Safirulla sought the support of Amballoor and Edakkattuvayal panchayats to cultivate some 350 acres of the 990 acres of the Puncha in Ernakulam district (the remaining 1,082 acres are in Kottayam) in 2016-17, and the results were stunning. “Preparation of fields itself was a challenge, but paddy field collectives worked in tandem to make it happen. This time around, we were able to bring under cultivation the maximum cultivable area — around 700 acres over nine paddy land collectives barring areas acquired for various projects, canals, farm roads, and irrigation channels,” said C.K. Prakash, general coordinator of the project.

Several departments, including irrigation, Land Development Corporation, and the State Electricity Board, supported the initiative. The canals were cleaned, and pumping facility was added to the sluices at Olippuram and Pulimukham (as a chunk of the Puncha being in low-lying areas will get heavily inundated during the monsoon).

“It posed some challenges, as not every area could be cultivated in October, which delayed harvesting too. We have now set up 12 high-power submersible pumps along the Puncha for de-watering, which will help us harvest the entire field by March next. This is going to drastically reduce the harvesting cost as well. And, the idea is to incorporate Kudumbasree in threshing paddy at our own mill and brand it,” said Mr. Prakash.

A Thottara Puncha Development Council will soon be formed, and a mill will be set up at a cost of ₹40 lakh. Terming it his pet project, Mr. Safirulla said all agencies and stakeholders had chipped in with verve to script the success story.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / May 25th, 2018

Farmer awarded, gives Governor a gift that grows

Agriculture, Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Tuber Man’s ‘seed pen’ germinates into tree after pen is disposed of

Shaji N.M., a farmer who was conferred the Biodiversity Award under special mention category by the National Biodiversity Authority, attracted many eyeballs during the award ceremony on Tuesday.

After receiving the award, he presented seed pens as return gift to the dignitaries, including Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan from whom he received the prize. “It is made of paper. You can use it as a normal disposable pen, and when the ink is exhausted, you can just throw it away. It contains a seed, which will give birth to a tree in future,” he explained.

Making seed pens is more like a hobby for Mr. Shaji, whose major occupation is conserving tuber species.

Started 20 years ago as a response to the drought conditions in Wayanad district where he lives, his passion has taken him places across the country, in search of newer tuber species. “I have a collection of 200 edible tuber species, including the rarest ones, besides herbs and medicinal plants on my four-acre land,” he says proudly.

He has shared the germplasm of the tubers with institutions such as Central Tuber Crop Research Institute and Kerala University.

Recipient of many awards, including National Plant Genome Saviour Award, Mr. Shaji’s conservation efforts are not limited to tubers; they extend to rice. He grows 17 traditional varieties of rice on the meagre plot, besides dabbling in fish farming, bee keeping and horticulture.

There were nine winners and 13 special mentions in total at the biodiversity award ceremony, among whom two were from Telangana.

Sangham Women Farmers Group from Medak won the award for ‘Sustainable use of Biological Resources’ for its efforts in traditional and organic methods of seed processing.

The Biodiversity Management Committee of Modi (Jheri) village of Kerameri mandal in Asifabad district won under special mention category, for conserving 26 native varieties of pulses and cereals. Among them, two varieties ‘Erra Machala Kandulu’ (a variety of pigeon pea) and ‘Vayunowka Jonna’ (a variety of sorghum) have been registered with the Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority of India, while the recognition of another variety, ‘Balintha Pesalu’, is under way.

Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve Management Committee from West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh won the award for protecting the community reserve, while Lemsachenlok Organization ( Y.NukuluPhom), Longleng, Nagaland, received it in the Institutions category.

Awards were also given under Special Mention category to corporates such as Godrej & Boyce, Mumbai, and Coromandel International, Kakinada. Coringa BMC of East Godavari too won under this category.

There were five categories of awards — conservation of wild species, conservation of domesticated species, sustainable use of biological resources, replicable mechanisms for access and benefit sharing, and best biodiversity management committees.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Swathi Vadlamudi / Hyderabad – May 24th, 2018

Kannur native has a ‘brush’ with stardom

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Nri's / Pio's, World Opinion

Kannur :

Nostalgia. That sentimental longing for his homeland made Sijesh Poyil pack his bags and come back to Kannur. From Dubai. Five years ago. Nostalgia again played its part in turning him into a successful entrepreneur fortunate enough to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On April 11, Sijesh became an overnight hero as a tweet from the PMO named him and mentioned his achievement as an entrepreneur.

The PMO’s tweet said, “Mr P Sijesh from Kannur in Kerala is running a successful unit where herbal tooth powder is made. He presented his product to the Prime Minister during the interaction with various Mudra beneficiaries.”

An excited Sijesh said over phone from New Delhi: “I just cannot believe my luck. How can an ordinary man like me from a village in Kannur think about meeting the Prime Minister and spending around two-and-a-half hours with him?”

The meeting held at the PM’s residence was arranged to felicitate around 100 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana who have shown extraordinary commitment in scripting successful stories of entrepreneurship. Of the 110 people selected for the meeting, only four were from Kerala. The other three were Sreelal from Koyilandy, Vinod of Kozhikode and Venu of Wayanad. Sijesh had expanded his tooth powder after receiving a Mudra loan of Rs 8.5 lakh.

The financial situation at home having forced him to try his luck in Dubai, where he worked for three years as a security officer with Emirates Airlines, Sijesh flew back home in 2013.“The modern world and its added facilities have never been my priority in life,” said the 32-year-old.“My heart ached for the things I had left at home. The rain, rivers, temple festivals… I realised  I’m not made for a life outside my place.”

Like every Gulf returnee, Sijesh too wanted to start a of his own. Though he had continued with his pharmacy job, which he had left before going to Dubai, he was looking for something new.

“I used to clean my teeth with rice husk ash (Umikkari). But what was available in the market was not up to standards. So I decided to make a product of my own. After researching on it for sometime, I developed it and distributed it among my family members and friends. As they all appreciated the quality of the product, I decided to move ahead,” he said.

As the stuff he made with husk ash, clove, pepper and salt received appreciation, he had decided to produce it on a large scale. At this stage, the Positive Commune Entrepreneurship Club (PC) — a WhatsApp group for young entrepreneurs — stepped in. The association with PC changed Sijesh’s fortunes, for the people at PC helped him redesign the brand logo.

Armed with the group’s valuable inputs and the experience received by participating in the ‘Vijayi Bhava’ training camp conducted by Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Sijesh was out to reap more from his . By that time, he had given a name to his product — Shanthiz husk ash — which he had earlier sold without a name in a plain bottle.“Shanthi is the name of my mother-in-law,” he chuckled.

With a designer look and a brand name, Shanthiz husk ash has become a much sought after product. From a nameless, label-less product, Shanthiz now sells around 5,000-6,000 bottles in Kannur district alone. The price per 25 gm bottle is Rs 30 and Sijesh is keen on expanding to other districts as well.

Along with his family members, especially brother Dhanesh, sister Dhanya and wife Sajina, there are five women helping Sijesh make Shanthiz. He has a three-year old son, Sreehari.
Two years after the first bottle was produced, Shanthiz has now reached the hands of the Prime Minister too. Because Sijesh presented 10 bottles of Shanthiz to him during the interaction.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by M.A. Rajeev Kumar / Express News Service / April 13th, 2018

Conclave may help Kerala startups get more support

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Thiruvananthapuram  :

After the recent #Huddle conclave, startups in Kerala are expecting more support from Startup India and Swacch Bharat Mission.

The three state-based startups—Zenrobotic, SectorQube and Perfectfit Fashion had obtained the initial support from Unicorn India Ventures. They expect further backing to take the ventures forward. A startup based in Jaipur also plans to set up a unit in Kerala buoyed by the massive response received at the conclave organized by the Kerala Startup Mission and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Zenrobotics, which was in the news for creating the world’s first manhole cleaning robot ‘Bandicoot’ here on an experimental basis in February this year is now in the forefront. “In all we plan to roll out 50 sewer cleaning robots in Kerala alone. We are also taking orders from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. For massive production, we expect support from Sharjah government government and Indian government,” said Genrobotics co-founder Rashid Bin Abdulla.

SectorQube which has devised smart kitchen appliances and working on next generation roti makers looks forward for international expansion. “We had the initial capital support from Unicorn Ventures and now expect further support to expand our operations,” said Nibu Alias, CEO and co-founder of SectorQube.

Perfectfit Fashion, a Kochi-based startup that specializes in 3D body scanning systems for fashion and healthcare industry also expects further support from investors. “We are looking for investors to support the new development centre and for R&D to create more value-addition,” said Eobin George, co-founder, Perfectfit. Jaipur-based startup with its innovative product Spiqi, a healthcare electronic device to prevent spondylosis is planning to set up an unit in Kerala.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / by Laxmi Prasanna / TNN / April 15th, 2018

KMA national meet begins in city today

Business & Economy

The Kerala Management Association’s (KMA) annual national management convention will begin here on Thursday.

Around 2,000 delegates from within and outside the State are expected to participate in the two-day meet at Le Meridien Hotel convention centre.

The convention, organised by the All India Management Association (AIMA) and KMA in its 60th year, will have 25 prominent speakers from various fields of expertise. State Finance Minister Thomas Isaac will inaugurate the meet at 9.30 a.m. Noted speaker Mahatria Ra, founder of Infinitheism, will deliver the keynote speech at the inaugural session.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, president of AIMA and chairman of Manipal Group of institutions, will also speak.

Nokia India managing director Ajey Mehta; KPMG Global director Richard Rekhy; Bengaluru IIM Professor Vasanthi Sreenivasan; NITI Ayog’s Atal Innovation Mission director Ramanan Ramanathan; South Indian Bank managing director and chief executive officer V.G. Mathew; State IT Secretary M. Sivasankar; Kochi Metro managing director A. P. M. Mohammed Haneesh; and AIMA secretary-general Rekha Sethi; are among those who will participate in the meeting.

On Friday, at the valedictory session, Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce and Trade, will address the gathering through video conferencing. K.V. Thomas, MP, and Chief secretary Paul Antony will be the chief guests at the session.

KMA president Vivek Krishna Govind and secretary R. Madhav Chandran said in a statement that this was the first time that KMA was providing a platform for a mega convention of this scale.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – April 12th, 2018

Happy chimes for bell metal craft

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

A bell metal artisan at work at Kunhimangalam, near Payyannur, in Kannur.

Artisans of Kunhimangalam form a cluster, ready major plans with govt. support

The neighbourhood of Kunhimangalam, near Payyannur here, harbours nearly a hundred families of bell metal artisans. But today, only 15 artisans are involved in the craft.

The craftsmen, belonging to the Moosari community, have now come together for an initiative, supported by the State and Union governments, to introduce the craft to the next generation, thereby keeping it alive.

If their plans materialise, the Moosari Kovval neighbourhood at Kunhimangalam will be a bell metal heritage village, which will showcase their craftsmanship and attract tourists, thereby expanding the market for their products.

They have formed a cluster, Kunhimangalam Bell Metal Heritage Private Ltd. (KBMHPL), with a grant of ₹1.40 crore, 70% of which has been sanctioned by the Union government and the rest by the State government.

Design workshop

The cluster, inaugurated by Industries Minister A.C. Moideen on April 8, will set up a common facility centre (CFC) with machinery and workplace for artisans.

“The cluster will soon organise a design workshop which will be attended by experts from the National Institute of Design. Experienced artisans and newcomers will be introduced to the new trends in design,” KBMHPL Managing Director P. Valsan told The Hindu.

As many traditional products made of bell metal such as kindi (water container with a nozzle), uruli (shallow cooking vessel), charcoal iron to press clothes, or spittoons are no longer in use, many artisans of Kunhimangalam chose other vocations.

‘Youth not interested’

“Youngsters are not drawn to this craft because there is no demand for the products,” said Ramachandran Kunhimangalam, chairman of the Kunhimangalam Bell Metal Heritage Protection, Study and Research Centre, a trust formed a few years ago to revive the tradition.

A heritage museum to showcase the craftsmanship is also in the pipeline. The project is being supported by the Commissioner of Development Handicrafts under the Union government and Handicrafts Development Corporation of the State government. The latter will give a tool kit valued at ₹10,000 to each bell metal artisan in the village.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Mohamed Nazeer / Kannur – April 10th, 2018

‘Thottara Rice’ brand to hit the shelves soon

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature, Records, All

Harvest of paddy to be inaugurated on April 10

The Thottara organic rice brand harvested from Thottara Puncha, a vast expanse of paddy field spread over Amballoor and Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam district, will hit the market by the end of this month.

Come April 10, and the inauguration of this year’s harvest of paddy cultivated in nearly 550 acres will take place amid a gathering of hundreds of farmers, elected representatives, and officials.

“We plan to brand nearly 40 tonnes of organic rice as Thottara Rice and market it through the existing network of the Agriculture Department. In the next phase, larger quantities of the produce will be taken up for branding,” said Sujith Karun, Ernakulam district co-ordinator of the Haritha Keralam Mission. The organisers are hoping to harvest around 1,500 metric tonnes of paddy from Thottara Puncha, which extends to around 1,200 acres at Amballur and Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam district and Vellur panchayat in Kottayam district.

Farmers affiliated to nine Padashekhara Samitis are engaged in paddy cultivation. It is expected that around 300 tonnes of rice can be produced from 1,500 metric tonnes of paddy cultivated in the 550-acre area. The Agriculture Department has the capacity to market nearly 40 tonnes of Thottara brand rice in the first phase. And, farmers can sell the remaining rice to private mills.

Mill at Amballoor

Mr. Sujith said that the Kudumbasree Mission had agreed to set up a mill at Amballoor. It will also provide ₹40 lakh for the realisation of the project.

Interestingly, District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla had taken the lead in bringing the maximum available cultivable land under Thottara Puncha for paddy cultivation. Farming in the barren land began in 2015.

Major preparatory works like the cleaning up of 11 km of main canals by the Minor Irrigation Department to de-water the paddy fields, land preparatory work in padashekharams, field survey for installation of 12 submersible pumps, consultations with stakeholders, and field visits to padashekharams were completed as part of the initiative.

The district administration had increased the acreage of Thottara Puncha over the last couple of years starting with 150 acres in 2015-16 followed by 350 acres in 2016-17.

The district administration’s efforts to revive the rice bowl of Ernakulam were ably assisted by the agriculture and irrigation departments, KLDC, KSEB, local bodies, land owners, Padashekhara Samitis, and the local community at large. The Agriculture Technology Management Agency had offered training to farmers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – April 09th, 2018